William Merritt Chase

William Merritt Chase was one of the earliest painters to work in Venice using the new Impressionist style. In sketches like this, he uses short, loose brushstrokes to study the play of light, color, and reflections around a row of ordinary houses in the quiet Dorsoduro neighborhood, with the dome of the Chiesa dei Gesuati beyond. These same qualities and challenges later lured Renoir, Monet, Sargent, and many others to the city on the lagoons. Chase was evidently proud of this work, despite its modest size. He exhibited it at the Providence Art Club in 1882, where it was purchased by local collector Isaac Bates.